After years of the profession concentrating on major standards, 2019 was a year when the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) went back to basics. Transparency and comparable financial statements were two of the major issues.

The insurance standard, IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts, was made clearer thanks to the transition working group. And, one notable success was that the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) confirmed that the international Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) XBRL based on the IASB standards would be the chosen digital format for the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) project.